It’s quite challenging for directors to come up with creative situations for their songs. It’s even more challenging when you have to explain situations to super-talented composers like Raja, because only when you challenge them will you get something special! The “Competition genre” is basically a situation where the actors in the song compete and are trying go one up on each other. This gives scope for innovation in the music and it also makes the lyricists work harder. Let’s look at some songs in these situations, this is just an indicative list and by no means exhaustive.
- Ennama Kannu: This is like a slient conflict between Rajini and Sathyaraj in the movie Mr.Bharath and Raja cooks up a beautiful Sindhubhairavi tune (wonderful innovation indeed) and the lyrics by Kavinger Vaali are brilliant. SPB and Malaysia Vasudevan also up the ante through their spirited singing.
- Mannar Mannane: A majestic song and oozing gambheeram in every note. The orchestration is amazing with some powerful lyrics. SPB and Janaki seem to be enjoying here and Raja uses a rare raga Kalasaveri here to great effect.
- Minsara Kanna: ARR comes up with a beautiful song in a melodious and intense raga Vasantha and this is probably one of his best songs. Nithyashree starts the song with all gusto and in the second paragraph Srinivas takes over in a more mellow manner but his singing is excellent. The orchestration and the way it ends on an explosive fashion makes us visualize the whole scene.